OPINION:
The only poll that matters for the future of President Trump’s plans is the one taken next November. This issue arose earlier this week when I appeared on CNN and was questioned about a new poll regarding the improvements to the White House campus.
My response? Voters are far more interested in this simple question: Are wages up and costs down? If the answer is yes, Mr. Trump and his Republican allies have a real shot at holding the majority in the House. Fortunately, the Senate map in 2026 favors Republicans.
If wages are not rising while prices are, it will be challenging to hold the House majority in the midterm elections. President Reagan carried 49 of 50 states in his 1984 reelection, but Republicans lost seats in the House and their majority in the Senate two years later.
The driving forces at the ballot box next fall will be wages and prices. Which is up and which is down will likely determine who holds the majority in the House. In turn, this will directly affect how many of the president’s plans can be implemented in the second half of his final term in office.
To win, voters need to feel the impact of higher wages and lower prices. Republicans should focus on several key issues, including trade, taxes and terrible government spending.
Mr. Trump, a global businessman, understands the importance of international trade. He also understands that free trade must be fair to work. No more one-sided “deals” that allow foreign nations to heap significant restrictions or tariffs on goods and services that negatively impact American workers. Level the playing field, and let us compete on quality and price.
With this in mind, the Trump administration needs to maintain pressure to finalize major trade deals by 2026. Ideally, these announcements can be made by the start of the year. For Mr. Trump’s trade policy to have an impact on the fall elections, voters need time to see its positive effects.
When radicals tried to recall me as governor of Wisconsin, what saved me was that my reforms had time to take effect. Despite the massive attacks, hardworking people saw their property taxes decrease for the first time in more than a decade, and schools thrived as they used our tools. No amount of negative ads could counter what they saw with their own eyes.
Americans need time to see that the trade deals are working for them. They need to feel the positive effects of employers feeling good about the economy, thanks to renewed stability, and then investing in their employees through higher wages. They need to feel the impact of lower prices on food, gas and other goods, driven by positive trade deals. It is not enough to talk about it; voters will need to see and feel the benefits before they can affirm that they want more of these policies.
Seeing and feeling the impact of lower taxes in 2026 will be important too. According to a poll commissioned by Young America’s Foundation, younger voters’ top concerns are high prices and the state of the economy. They also list the tax cuts as their favorite priority of Mr. Trump. That makes sense, as so many are concerned about stagnant wages and high prices over the past four years. They want to keep more money in their pockets.
In addition to enacting tax cuts, the president and congressional leaders need to talk about them too. The 2017 tax cuts were significant, but there was a lack of explanation of their benefits. Liberals filled this gap with inaccurate information that made many believe the tax cuts went to “the wealthy” and corporations when hardworking Americans received the vast majority of the benefits from the tax cuts.
I still remember Mr. Trump telling me that workers would see the tax cuts in their paychecks. Most people have direct deposit into their checking accounts and don’t see their paychecks. We have to remind them of the tax cuts and explain the benefits.
Third, we need to reduce terrible government spending. The Department of Government Efficiency was a great start, but we need to do more to rein in federal government bloat. In Washington, the budget has grown out of control. Massive government spending contributes to inflation, which drives up prices for Americans.
The length of the federal government shutdown should have provided members of Congress with plenty of evidence of what spending is essential and what can be reduced or eliminated in the coming year. My message is simple: Just do it!
To win next November, Mr. Trump’s allies need to demonstrate to voters that wages are rising and prices are falling. That should be our focus for the next year.
• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation. He served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin.
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